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City officials trying to secure additional $550K for veterans memorial
The city of McKinney released this conceptual design of a memorial to honor veterans of the U.S. armed forces that will be located in the Van Tuyl Plaza on vacant Craig Ranch land. Courtesy Illustration
By Brandi Hart, McKinney Courier-Gazette
The vacant land located in part of Craig Ranch will pay tribute to those who gave their lives serving in the U.S. armed forces in a veterans memorial in McKinney.
The memorial will pay tribute to all veterans in McKinney and the approximately 300 who died serving in the armed forces. The memorial will be 70 feet wide and 600 feet long and will be made of an 8-foot-high wall shaped like a ribbon. It will be located in the Van Tuyl Plaza, between the proposed five-star hotel the Golden Tulip, which will be west of Weiskopf Lane, and the Times Square retail area, which will be east of Weiskopf. Neither the Golden Tulip or the Times Square retail area has been constructed yet.
City of McKinney Parks Development Superintendent Steve Brainerd said the city is currently working on a marketing package that will be sent to corporations and residents in McKinney to help fund the project.
The ribbon cutting may just be for the flagpole and the flag that will hang from it and not the entire memorial as the city is still trying to secure the $550,000 shortfall to fund the project.
Representatives of the Veterans Memorial Committee have found 300 veterans' names from McKinney and Collin County who should have their names inscribed on the memorial wall, Brainerd said.
A single water fountain will have streams of water flowing to six trees that will represent the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and the sixth tree will include the Merchant Marines, National Guard and the Department of Homeland Security, Brainerd said.
The approximately 300 people's names who will be inscribed on the memorial include veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Iraq War, to name a few.
City Councilman Bill Vitz headed up the McKinney Veterans Memorial Committee per the council's request. It includes Ronnie Foster, Linda Phillips, Veda Babb, Bill Dowdy, Charlie Phillips, George Webb, Beth Lawson, Gene Sera, David Allevato, Bill and Linda Smith of McKinney, Councilwoman Gilda Garza, and city staff John Kessel, the city's executive director of development services, Brainerd, and Rod Tweet, the city's recreation superintendent, Vitz said.
Vitz believes it's important to have the memorial to honor veterans who are alive and who sacrificed themselves for our freedom.
“It's important to be able to understand the people whose name they will see were real people and were afraid just like we are afraid, and everyone one of them know their life was on the line,” Vitz said.
“It takes a lot of character and courage to do that,” Vitz said. “We need to understand that our country is worth a lot and most Americans don't realize how much they have given this country.”
He said he is just the liaison between the city and the committee and that the committee members are the ones who have worked the most to bring the memorial to life.
For more information about the memorial or donating to the veterans memorial, contact the city at 972-547-7500.
Contact staff writer Brandi Hart at hartb@acnpapers.com.
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